The first time I ever saw Carter was at an AA meeting. Now, don’t judge, I wasn’t there for me. I’m not an alcoholic, and strangely enough neither was Carter. I was dropping of my older sister, Candy, there. Candy’s not really my sister; in fact we’re not related at all. But we grew up together, so I felt some strange sense of responsibility for her. I think my logic went along the lines of, I watched her get like this, so now I have to do something about it.
I had been a foster child and Candy’s parents, Ruth and Jerry Stone, took me in. Ruth and Jerry were great in some ways: very accepting and loving, but rather negligent when it came to things like underage drinking and drugs. By the time I came to live with the Stones in their flat in Portland Oregon, Candy was already pretty messed up. She was fifteen and had her finger in almost every pie you could think of, so to speak. She spent more nights out of the apartment than in it. But she was nice to me, mostly, so I felt a kind of sisterly affection for her that would later in life compel me to drive her through that crazy city to Alcoholics Anonymous meetings every Thursday.
The day I met Carter, was sweet and sunny, like honeydew. I had picked up Candy from the apartment of the guy she was living with, Arnie I think his name was, and we had driven through Portland to the church building where AA was meeting. Candy tugged at her black, studded mini-skirt nervously. She hated the meetings, but she seemed to really want to clean up this time, so she went, and I drove. I pulled my little, beat up Honda civic into the parking lot next to a flashy black sports car. I thought it looked suspiciously like the Batmobile.
“You’ll be here at six?” Candy asked me, reassuring her-self that she had an escape plan. Her big, heavily linered eyes stared straight at me with a look that reminded me of a scared bunny.
“Sure thing Candy. Don’t run off again though, ok? Since your cell coverage was canceled I can’t call you to find out who you’ve gone to get drinks with. So just wait for me here.” Candy sometimes forgot about little things like that. She nodded sheepishly and exited the car. Just as Candy opened the heavy red door into the back of the church and entered; a good looking black guy in a leather jacket passed her on the way out. Our eyes met, and I guess I must have been staring a little, cause’ he smiled good-naturedly and waved a little. I smiled and waved back, embarrassed. He went to the Batmobile-esque car and got in the driver’s side. Figures, I thought to myself.
He drove off too fast, threading his way through the jungle paths of Portlandia. I watched and wondered how long it would be before he was pulled over. I got a cup of coffee in a near-by shop as I waited for the hour of AA to be over and all the while I thought about the strange character in the black car. Something about him had struck my fancy and I whiled away the short hour imagining an exciting identity and life for him. By the time I was getting back into my car I had myself convinced that he was a secret military agent who was investigating the AA group that was simply a cover for the local mafia.
I waited outside the church for about twenty minutes for Candy to come out before I went in to look for her. The red back-door of the church was a huge metal industrial one, painted a dark-ish red color. I pushed against it determinedly, willing my muscles to get bigger; I was such a shrimp. But the weight became considerably less as the arm of the Batmobile driver pushed against it for me. I blushed.
“Thanks.” I stared at the floor, suddenly feeling a secret embarrassment for imagining him.
“No problem.” The driver’s voice was a pleasing tenor, rather spicy. “But if you’re looking for the girl in the mini-skirt that you dropped off, I’m pretty sure I saw her walking off with another group member.” I groaned inwardly. He laughed at me. I looked up at him. His face was round with a big happy smile.
“She the type?” He asked in a companionable tone.
“Sort of.” I answered, “She just forgets that I’m coming to pick her up weather she leaves or not.”
“Well, If it makes you feel any better, the person I saw her walking off with is my friend, who has left me hanging too.” I smiled ruefully.
“Any idea where they were going?” I asked him, half hoping he didn’t know.
“Not really. Anyway I don’t really want to go looking for him. Do you think she’ll be ok?”
“Oh, she has a bus pass. I just hope she doesn’t end up getting smashed and throwing up in a public bathroom.” He nodded.
“Well that makes two of us. Anyway, if Jared drinks he owes me his x-box for a week and a half.”
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